Third Reality
by evencatsfallfrompoles
Summary: "History is written by the victors." Duelists disappear one by one, as a mysterious organization commences a plan for something big. A group of people has gathered to fight off these Invaders. They are the Revolutionaries!


**Picking Yourself Up**

The school bell rang. In an instant, hordes of students streamed out of the campus grounds at Kiboumi Academy. Among them, a boy with green glasses walked silently, listening to music on his headphones. Walking pass the campus fountain, he slowed down out of habit for a bit, before picking up the pace once again upon realizing there was no one to wait for. Up ahead, a pair of sisters walked together. The older sister had her hair untied, walking straight in silence; her younger sister had her hair in a ponytail, appearing to dart around playfully. "Kanata," the older sister began monotonously, "what are you doing?" "Well," her sister replied, grinning, "I'm avoiding the cracks on the road!" "Stop it." Her older sister ordered, emotionless. Without arguing, Kanata fell silent, walking alongside her sister with her head hung low.

Kadoya Card Shop was located along the 3rd Avenue. Once a place bustling with youngsters, be it experienced duelists honing their skills or newbies getting their first trial decks, it now stood deserted, the shop owner nowhere to be seen and the lazy attendant laying lethargically on the counter. In the shop, a walled covered with posters saw dust gathering on it. Beside the portion with posters was one with countless photos of duelists. A plague that read "This Week's Champion" lay in the trash can, taken down from the wall where it was once hung above these photos in all its glory. The door chime signalled the arrival of visitors, startling the attendant.

"Kazuya-san, good afternoon," The older twin began.

"Ah, the two of you are back. How was your day?"

"Okay, I guess. We'll be in the back using the tables for homework as usual, in case you need us." Kanata replied, to which the attendant nodded.

"One more thing, Kazuya-san," the older sister spoke again, coldly, "Chiyako-san wouldn't be too happy seeing you slack off like that."  
The lazy attendant got up and grabbed the broom, sweeping the floor around the shop as the two girls proceeded to the back of the shop. They had gotten used to using the duelling tables to do their homework. It was not long after they settled down and began working on their algebra that the door chime rang once more.

"Oh, it's you." The attendant's voice was heard.

"Yo, K-san." Came a voice, and the girls could immediately tell who it was that had entered the store.

Kanata peeked out and saw a sight that had become too familiar. There was a boy with green glasses, listening to music with his headphones. In the silence of the shop, his loud music could be heard by others – it was a Japanese song sung by a popular girl band. He panned around the shop, first looking at the booster packs on display, before looking up at the card sleeves that hung on the wall behind the counter. He finally spun around, looking at the wall of photos in silence, looking at each and every one with deep scrutiny. Her older sister tugged at her sleeve, gesturing for her to get back to doing her work, but today, she did not budge. She was sure that this routine that they had found themselves stuck in… it just was not right. Her sister did not take her eyes off her handout on the table, and instead tugging harder when Kanata did not move.

"Haruka, let go." She demanded softly.

Her sister hesitated for a bit, before letting go off her sleeve. She remained focused, not taking her eyes off the handout for even a while in the process.

Kanata stood up. Haruka paid no attention, her eyes glued to her work on the table. This was her acting nonchalant, it was not that she did not want to care, she just did not want to remember the one thing… no, the one person she had lost… that they had lost.

"Yamada-kun!" Kanata called out to the boy. Haruka's eyes widened, and for the first time since the boy had entered the shop, she looked up, her gaze meeting that of his as he turned to face the two of them. The next few seconds felt like an eternity, no one had any idea of what to say. The deafening silence and palpable tension hung in the air, before vanishing when he greeted them in return.

"Oh hey, Kanata-san, Haruka-san."

"Hi," that was all Haruka could bring herself to say. She did not particularly enjoy this awkward conversation, but for some reason she just could not bring herself to allow it to end abruptly either.

"Yeah, y'know, I was just in here to look at the… look at them." He gestured to the wall of photos. The board, once a decorated celebration of victors past and present, now displayed photos of missing duelists. With new photos added as frequently as two times a week, it was no surprise that the card game was now dying out on its own, with most thinking of it as a taboo.

The room fell silent once again. By this point in time, Yamada had taken off his headphones, and upon realizing just how loud his music was playing, turned it off. The air had a nostalgic feel to it, but something seemed to be lacking regardless. Something was just not there.

"It's really funny, y'know? All of you guys want to do something, but no one is brave enough to start the ball rolling." A fourth voice rang out, surprising the three of them. They all turned to see a lone person sitting at a table in the corner, shuffling a deck of cards. Wearing an unfamiliar white school uniform was a familiar person. They recognised him in an instant.

"Daigo? What are you doing here?" Yamada asked, full of wonder as to how no one had noticed him sitting in the shop for that long a period of time.

"Sashiburi, minna," Daigo began, before going on to explain how he was about to join Kiboumi Academy as a transfer student. "I managed to get here early, and since I wanted to get to know this place better, I decided to walk around. I saw this card shop here and came in to look. Funnily enough, we're all here now. But more importantly…"

He got up, walking over to the wall and placing a hand on Yamada's shoulder. "Don't we all have a common goal?" The four of them looked at one another. It was true. They were all Revolutionaries who have banded together to stand up against the threat of the Invaders, the term people have coined to refer to the people threatening the duelists. They were not only a threat to the people playing cards, but also to the world. The missing children listed on the wall were children who had run away from home, or at least that was the story the media went with. For some unknown reason, the media had kept a lot of information under wraps: The missing children were, in actuality, kidnapped. The culprit? Foundation X.

Foundation X took not only Japan, but the world as well, by storm. Leading Japan in technological developments, they ran on an allegedly "clean" alternative form of energy that their scientists had discovered. On top of the countless praise they receive, their machines were efficient, winning award after award. However, digging further into the company's structure, multiple branches could be found to exist. One branch in particular, CODE, was the reason teenagers were disappearing off the streets. CODE was the only name the public knew them by, but those who knew better knew them as the Collection of Duel Energy department. The latest branch of the Foundation, CODE was only a few months' old, and sought to harness Duel Energy, an energy their researchers had found to emanate from duelists. It was this energy that they had used to power their efficient devices and earned them countless awards. While it appeared that they genuinely had good intentions, it was their methods of obtaining this form of energy that had struck fear in duelists. Initially, there was a period time where they asked for walk-in interviews, but as they got only a handful, the disappearances soon started.

No one took notice of the severity of these disappearances up until a corpse was found in a canal. It had belonged to a duelist who used a rogue deck with Zero Civilisation cards, one who had coincidentally won a tourney at a card shop one week prior. People who knew him said that after the tournament, he had vanished into thin air, becoming uncontactable and not going to school. Following that, countless reports of such disappearances came up, with the news consistently covering the stories up as tales of runaway children who had met with less than fortunate endings. People spread stories of being approached by mysterious people after their victories in tournaments, which typically end in a chase and themselves running for dear life. Occasionally, they get away, after which they continue spreading the message, hoping to prevent the same thing from happening again.

Over time, the effects of CODE's research became visible as well. Putting aside the worst case scenario of death, several who managed to escape after being captured by CODE were found to have become… different. These people often fell sick more easily after the capture or became victims of depression and other mental illnesses. On top of that, they become less attracted to playing their cards as well, as though they had become an entirely different person. It was clear that CODE was either approaching the collection of Duel Energy wrongly, or they were meddling with something that was never meant to be obtained.

It was also natural that CODE began to face resistance from the duelists. These people called themselves Revolutionaries, who were specialised in suffering attacks from the swift Invaders that CODE members used, before staging a turnabout and swinging back them at high power. Among the groups of Revolutionaries who gathered, was the four of them. They once had a powerful leader, a strong wielder of the Fire Civilisation. Under his leadership, they had been able to accomplish many missions, gathering information about CODE and Foundation X's goals, but alas, an event proved to them that their enemies had indeed been ahead of them the whole time.

Their leader was challenged to a duel by an unknown duelist. Considering it a trap, the team advised him not to go but he was never a person who could say no to a challenge. And thus, he left for the duel, and never returned.

This was a strong emotional blow to the team, and without realization, the remaining four fell out of contact with one another, not even talking to one another when they crossed paths, unless out of necessity. The event changed the whole team, everyone was different after his disappearance. Unfortunately, one part of dealing with the loss was ignoring one another, at least up until now.

"What are you saying we do?" Yamada looked back at Daigo.

A rhetorical question, everyone knew what they had to do.

"What I am saying is that…," Daigo reached behind his back and took out a deck case. Holding it out to the rest, he finished his sentence, "We need to finish what we started. Follow through." A logo was emblazoned on the deck case: a clenched fist above a star.

The group fell silent once more. All of them were looking at one another, with thoughts racing through each of their heads. Daigo felt that he had said enough; whether or not they would get back on their feet and revive the team was solely based on the remaining three. Yamada was sure that this was what their leader wold have wanted, for the Revolutionaries to continue fighting, regardless of the outcome of the duel he went for. It was also partially the reason the boy continued coming to the card shop on a regular basis: he wanted to ensure that his two remaining teammates were safe, with Daigo going back to Osaka months prior. The boy had taken it upon himself to protect the Revolutionaries. Kanata had her bright smile shining as usual as she mulled it over in her head. The smile fixed in place on her face at all times was a cover for all the worries that she harboured in silence on her own. The thought of bringing the group back together had crossed her mind many a time, but ultimately she was afraid. Afraid something would happen again, afraid that she would lose yet another one of her beloved friends. Haruka had showed a tinge of excitement as she realised that all four of them had miraculously gathered together once more, but she fell emotionless again. The girl was as worried as her sister was, but for a different reason. Ever since the disappearance of their leader, she had become a colder person, one distrusting of others. She suspected that someone in their group was a traitor, and the thing was it could be anyone. Her eyes darted from one guy to the other, and then to her sister as well. Someone must be guilty, or at least that was what she thought.

Courage manifests itself in many ways. It could mean taking the first steps out to get things done. It could mean taking on the role of one who protected others. It could mean getting over one's fears to keep on mobbing. It could mean placing the trust you have lost back in others.

One by one, each of the three retrieved their deck cases from their bags. They had placed them down for some time, but none of them had truly forgotten about them. The spark they had to keep on moving, it had been lost since the disappearance of their leader. But today, it had been re-ignited. The four stood around holding out their decks, the Revolutionary symbol gleaming from the lights in the card shop. They looked at one another and nodded. They all knew, this was how it was meant to be.

The four of them found themselves standing in front of a rusted door, memories gushing into their heads. This place held countless memories for them.

" _This shall be our base from now on!" exclaimed a teen in a red jacket._

" _I don't know about this, man. It looks filthy!" Yamada argued._

" _And hence," the teen snickered, "the first mission of the Revolutionaries begins now! Clean up the junk!"_

 _The two girls were silent for a while, but then explained they had… classes, apparently, and left. Yamada said he remembered he had an autograph session with his favourite girl band, and left. The boy was left alone._

 _The following day, after school, the four were back there. The place had become spotless, and the three of them were speechless. The teen beamed at them, "Not so bad if we put some muscle into it, am I right?"_

Both joyful memories…

" _Hey!" Kanata shouted joyfully, catching the attention of Yamada and Haruka, who had been building decks aside. "Guess what time it is?"_

 _The teen in the red jacket was in a duel with her. Having just broken a shield with a Cocco Lupia, the girl was checking her shield. "Ding-ding! It's Ragnarok! Shield Trigger activ…"_

 _The girl stopped short in her sentence as her opponent waggled his finger and pointed to a Fire Victory Rare on the battle zone – Dorago the Great, Dragon World._

" _Don't worry, you'll be able to use it some other time…" The teen spoke. He then proceeded to place a cherry on top of the sundae of smack talk. "You scrub."_

 _The room burst into laughter as Kanata hid her face with her hand, reddening with a mix of anger and embarrassment. She then uncontrollably erupted into laughter as well, laughing at her own mistake. At this point in time, no one wished for such a time to end._

And sad ones.

" _Don't worry, it's just a duel. What could possibly go wrong?" The teen was amused at his teammates' reactions. Brimming with confidence, he turned to leave through the door._

" _Wait!" Kanata shouted, grabbing his arm._

" _This… really seems like a trap." Haruka said, her arms folded. She only folded her arms when she was being dead serious about something, and there was not a hint of her joking around in her voice._

 _Daigo and Yamada watched on in silence. On one hand, they had no doubt that their leader would have no problem winning any duel. On the other hand, they felt like he might not be expecting anything other than a duel._

" _Daijobu da yo." He was getting impatient, and his voice gave away his annoyance. He wriggled free of Kanata's grasp and without looking back, he left through the door, and the rusty door slammed shut behind him._

"Well, the door isn't going to open on its own." Yamada said, as he fished out a keyring from his pocket. All of them had a copy of the same key, but no one expected to come back to this place, not even Yamada himself. He had just left all the keys he had on this key ring. The key ring was filled with keys of different shapes and sizes, and decorated with a _Small Busters!_ Keychain, anime he loved a lot. As the key fit snugly into the keyhole, the keychain hung there. The rest looked at him with judgmental gazes – the keychain's design had a girl in a not-too-appropriate outfit.

"Hey! Don't look at me like that," he was unamused, as he pushed at the door with all his strength. It budged, and one by one, the quartet walked in. The place had been pretty much untouched since the last time anyone was here – the laptop Kanata used to analyse the stolen Foundation X data sat on the table, its batteries dead; several cards laid out on the table where the team frequently modified their decks: Love Dracchi, Koltiolu and four copies of Marine Flower; the trash can had a line of ants moving in and out, an unpleasant odour filling the room, as no one had bothered to clear out the trash can the last time they were here.

A quick clean up later, the place looked much better. The table where the cards were had cases to sort cards by Civilisation, Cost and Type, and Daigo quickly sorted the cards left out back into their appropriate boxes. Yamada took the bag of garbage like it was a dirty bomb and made a dash for the nearest dumpster. Kanata had found loose wires lying around and hooked the laptop to a fuse box outside as a makeshift charger. "It's not stealing if we're doing it for the greater good." she explained with a mischievous smile on her face. Haruka wiped down the duelling tables in silence with a cloth she found lying around – she could not stand dust. The base looked much better already.

Daigo and Yamada then left for the convenient store. As they finished their shopping, they took a seat on a bench, facing the setting sun.

"So… what do you think?" Daigo asked, taking a sip of his bottled milk coffee.

"Huh?" came a confused response.

"What do you think of our chances right now? Is there _still_ hope?" Daigo clarified his question.

"Oh, well…" Yamada was still unsure. He was sure the rest did not know either, but for fear of a self-fulfilling prophecy, no one dared to speak of their concerns. It was probably better off this way. Probably.

"You have to speak to convey a message," Daigo spoke again, "but if now's not the time, take your time first. There's no rush and sometimes…"

"Sometimes what?" Yamada asked as Daigo trailed off mid-sentence.

"Sometimes," Daigo got up, walking forward, "you just do what you do because you have to. The end justifies the means… and stuff, y'know?"

"That's pretty deep." Yamada replied, without taking his eyes off the melting popsicle in his hand. He finished what was left in a mouthful and he slowly got to his feet as well.

As the two of them turned to leave, Yamada shoved Daigo to the ground.

"What was that for?! You idiot!" Daigo was steaming mad. Without hesitation, Yamada had dived down to the ground as well.

The two heard it. A lone, single bang.

A bullet grazed the bench, narrowly missing Daigo as the two watched in shock. Turning to face their aggressor, they found themselves looking at a girl holding a handgun in one hand. She wore a tank top with a camouflage coloured jacket and short shorts. She watched their faces in glee.

"You should have seen your faces! Well, now that I have your attention…"

"Who are you?!" Daigo shouted at her, interrupting her sentence.

Their aggressor remained silent, instead taking a deck and holding it out. A symbol printed on her card sleeves revealed her identity to the boys.

"That symbol… this can't be… a CODE duelist!" Yamada's eyes widened in shock. He reached behind his back for his… "Shit!" He realised he had been careless.

"Me too," Daigo looked at him, "what should we do?"

"Ah? No decks? This would take the fun out of it… Well, never mind then, it certainly makes things a lot easier." She walked towards them, like a predator closing in on its weak, defenceless prey. Her eyes glimmered with a murderous intent as she fiddle with the weapon in her hands.

What happened next was something no one had expected. The automated doors of the convenience store slid open. A clawed foot stepped out, it was the legs of a bird. It was no bird. A massive chicken stepped out as the three turned to look. A massive chicken suit. It was a person in a chicken suit. It dashed to the boys' side, attempting to stop the confrontation. As it ran over, it tripped over flat on its face, its beak being crushed in the process. It got up to adjust it, and continued running over. This happened twice. The CODE duelist watched in disbelief, unamused by the antic of the feathered fellow. It faced the girl and behind it, the boys saw it – a deck case. The chicken reached for it and took out a deck. Holding it out towards the CODE duelist, no words were needed to tell what the bird's intentions were.

"Are you kidding me? Is this a joke?" The CODE duelist looked around, as if she expected a cameraman to be filming this surreal scenario. There was absolutely no one else. The bird suit was silly, with the eyes pointed to each side and the wings being ridiculously over-sized, but the person inside had a stance that showed her it was dead serious – it did not budge or flinch at the question of hers. It was in no way a joke.

"Friend of yours?" Daigo looked at Yamada.

"I was about to ask you the same thing."

The CODE duelist was losing her patience. "Hey! You want to duel? You got one. Come on already."

And it was on.

"Mori kara no shuugeki!" The CODE duelist began.

"Tori-san no tsubasa!" The chicken replied.

" **Duema Start!"**

The duel was carried out in dead silence, apart from taunts from the girl as well as the occasional clucking noises made by the chicken. The boys watched on in silence, knowing the outcome of this duel would decide their fate.

"My turn!" The CODE duelist declared loudly as she drew her next card, shattering the silence. She did not charge mana, immediately summoning a creature from her hand. "Go, Fox! Kerasas reduces cost by 1!"

"What is she doing?" Yamada was bewildered by her play style. "None of her creatures this far have been commands."

"Except that one," Daigo pointed at the card she just played. The rest of her field were low-mana creatures which she has spent the past few turns amassing: a Sniper Mosquito, two Heart Cap'n Polligons, a Kerasas and a Miss Mei. However, rather curiously, she had not attacked with any of them. "Plus…"

"Plus?"

"Plus that Fox she just summoned comes with an ability that activates when it is put into the battle zone. It has just given all her creatures the Guerrilla Command race for this one turn."

Yamada's mouth hung open with shock in realising what that meant. "You don't think…"

"That last card she's holding onto, it probably has Invasion. But it doesn't add up… She can only Invade once with that one card."

"Here I come!" exclaimed the CODE duelist. "Kerasas attacks, and during which… Invasion! Foxree, Super Beast Army! Double Break!"

The bird checked its first two shields and shook its head wildly, as if taunting her to break more.

"Reload!" The CODE duelist said as she returned the Foxree card back to her hand. "At the end of its attack, this bad boy gets to come back to my hand. Which means…"

"Mazui!" Yamada looked on with concern. What that effect meant was that her entire field of weenies were double breakers for this turn.

"Attack! Miss Mei! Invade once more! Foxree, Double Break!"

The chicken picked up two more shields slowly, the bird was clearly shaken by the suddenness of the Nature duelist's attack.

"Bawk-bawk!" Went the chicken, as it slammed a card onto the table. "Shield Trigger!" It was a Sturm, Scrapper! Wiping the rest of the opponent's creatures except Kerasas, Fox and Foxree, the CODE duelist was clearly annoyed.

"Next turn, for sure." She muttered to herself as she returned Foxree to her hand.

"Bawk bawk," the chicken drew its next card. Charging mana, it had reached a total of 7 mana. "Evolve, Sturm! Go, Dracken Assault, bawk!" It triumphantly placed down a card above the Shield Trigger creature.

Yamada and Daigo watched in awe – it was a new Revolutionary creature!

"Kakumei ni, hatsudou!" The chicken stuck out its wing. It looked like he was trying to form a 'V' sign with the fingers he did not have on the suit. Regardless, everyone could see that the bird was ready to turn the tide on his opponent and perform a counterattack.

"Destroy everything of yours with power 13000 or less! Bawk!"

"What the f…" She was devastated at the sight of every single creature on her field being cleared, one by one, in a swift blow.

"Cocco Lupia, break!"

"Nothing."

"Gogo Jigotchi, break!"

"Shield Trigger! Ajarashi, Invader!"

"No problem! Dracken Assault, triple break!"

"Another Ajarashi! And then… nothing else, damn."

"Turn end, bawk." The chicken looked confident of winning.

"But she has two creatures and he has two shields…" Yamada commented.

"That must mean this bird has something up his sleeves." Daigo spoke calmly. He knew what was coming.

"Draw. And then, Ajarashi, attack! Invade, Foxree, and Final Break!"

"Bawk!" The chicken looked at its last shield card and appeared to be panicking.

"Reload! Ajarashi attack and invade! Foxree, todome… What do you think you're doing?!"

All eyes were on the chicken again. It had begun pecking at the ground, almost as though it was trying to mock its opponent. The boys found it funny, but the CODE duelist felt like the bird was not taking the duel seriously. This made her blood boil.

"Hey! Todomeda, you piece of garbage!" She shouted angrily.

The bird stood up straight and walked over to the table. It revealed a glowing red card in its hand.

The boys were now speechless. The CODE duelist stared at the card in disbelief. It was a Revolution 0 Trigger!

"Kakumei Zero Toriga!" The bird crowed as it looked at the top four cards of its deck. "Bawk!" Went the chicken as it revealed a card – Galaxy Lupia! With 9000 power, it was just enough for the chicken to stop the direct attack.

"Uso!" His opponent yelled in anger.

"My turn! Dracken Assault, direct attack!"

The bird's direct attack sent his opponent flying backwards. As she struggled to get back up, the bird quickly grabbed the boys by their hands and guided them out of the area. As they ran, Yamada could not help but feel like he had done this before.

"Who are you?!" He questioned their rescuer, keeping his eyes focused on the ground so he did not trip. There was no reply from the chicken.

"How did you find us?!" Next came Daigo. He could hardly keep a straight face. This scenario they were in was too funny to take seriously. There was still no reply.

After a bit of running, the boys realised where the bird had led them to – they were back at the base. The chicken stopped running, turned around, and face the boys. He looked goofy, yes, as that was the impression given by the suit. But right now, the atmosphere between the three was tense. Just who exactly was the mysterious bird-man?

Daigo looked at Yamada. Yamada looked back at him. They nodded and turned to face the bird.

"One, two… Three!" They pounced on him, ripping off the chicken mask to reveal… a pigeon mask?! The bird was clearly startled and got away by stepping backwards.

"Dame da yo! This was for tomorrow!" The person in the suit said angrily, gesturing to the pigeon mask. It somehow got even harder to take the person seriously. A pigeon head on a chicken's body was too much.

"Then tell us. Who are you?"

"I'll tell you _four_ when I go in there." He gestured at the rusty door behind him.

"Yeah, like you're gonna get in there," Yamada said with his arms crossed, "on who's orders? There's just no way you're…"

"Hotaru-san…" The bird interjected, and the boy stopped mid-sentence.

"Come again?"

"Hotaru Asuka…" The bird clarified.


End file.
